Marketing behind their backs.

Seth Godin is a genius. 

I was in a restaurant recently. It's a national chain and you'd recognize the name if I mentioned it.

My wife and I were dressed up, celebrating a successful meeting, ready to enjoy a nice evening together.

We waited for almost half an hour to be seated, on an evening that was not very busy for this establishment. We waited ten minutes for our drinks - water with lime. We ordered and our appetizer came out fairly timely. MY wife waited for her salad for 35 minutes. Our entree's took almost an hour, and mine, a seafood pasta dish, was inedible. The manager was sincerely sorry, after I complained, and comped our meal, but the damage had been done.

I hear and see advertising for this restaurant every day on the television and on radio. They market themselves well, even have a really neat Facebook App. They're well connected and they have, I'm sure, a strong customer base. However, the marketing performed by that crew on that evening completely undermined every single marketing dollar that had been poured into getting me through those doors. And it ended up costing them another $40 for my dinner.

How are your people marketing behind your back?